5 Times Sam Winchester Broke the Supernatural Fandom’s Heart

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The winter hellatus has finally arrived for Supernatural, and this one has left fans in quite the state of emotional distress. While I won’t get into spoiler-y details, suffice to say that the episode ended with Sam in a horrible predicament–a predicament to which he responded with the the Supernatural Winchester classic/fangirl sucker punch: a single man tear.

With Sammy in such a sticky situation (again, no season 11 spoilers here), this hellatus will seem CRAZY long as we have to wait until January to see what happens. But let’s remember that this isn’t the first time that Sam Winchester’s circumstances have broken our hearts and thrown us all into a fit of worry. Sam’s been through the wringer, and despite it all he manages to come back from it all untarnished…okay, relatively untarnished. Regardless, Sammy’s been in tough scrapes before, and he always finds a way out–he’ll find a way out of this one, too. Don’t believe me? Here are 5 other times that Sam managed to break the fandom’s heart.

Warning: Spoilers from seasons 1-10 below!

When Sam tried to deal his soul away to save Dean from hell

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This moment was a rough one for Supernatural fans to watch. Even though it was early on in the show, we knew enough about the boys to know that Sam and Dean are simply better together. Watching Sam crash and burn knowing his brother was in hell (and in hell because of him, no less), and then drunkenly try to deal his own soul to no avail was downright heartbreaking. Sadly for Sam, things only got worse from here–and that happens to lead me to my next Sam heartbreaking moment.

When Sam was addicted to demon blood–the addiction, the detoxing, the whole awful thing

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Like I said, Sam didn’t really thrive while his big bro was in hell. With Dean gone, Sam turned to the only other person he thought he could trust: Ruby. Turns out when you hang with demons, bad things happen to you, and the demoness got Sam addicted to demon blood by telling him it was the only way to stop Lillith from breaking The Seals. Sadly, Ruby was completely playing Sam, and the addiction was incredibly rough on him physically and emotionally. Everything culminated with Dean locking Sam in Bobby’s panic room to let his brother go through an incredibly horrible detox alone. To be fair to Dean, letting his little brother go through something that awful was incredibly hard on him, too, but we’ll have to talk about Dean’s heartbreaking moments another time…

When Sam Saved Dean and the World By Throwing Himself Into the Pit

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Because Sam accidentally brought on the end of days by letting Lucifer out of his cage, he felt a pretty keen sense of responsibility to fix things. Beyond that, he and Dean were told several times that it was fated for Sam to become Lucifer’s vessel, Dean to become Michael the Archangel’s, and the two would have a final showdown on earth. Of course things don’t go as planned, as the boys’ half brother, Adam (#StillInHell), allows Michael use his body as a vessel instead. Sam ultimately agrees to be Lucifer’s vessel, and while Lucifer takes control of Sam for a while, beating the snot out of Dean, Sam ultimately is able to overtake Lucifer, stop the fallen angel from hurting Dean, and throw himself/Lucifer and Adam/Michael into hell, damning himself to an eternity of being tortured by both Michael and Lucifer.

When Sam Was Hospitalized Because He Couldn’t Get Lucifer Out of His Head

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The thing about going to The Pit–even if Castiel is able to grip you tight and raise you from perdition–is that your brain is really never the same. After a lot of soul-finding, wall-building, and wall-destroying, Sam started having memories of hell, and hallucinations of Lucifer that slowly drove him crazy and stopped him from sleeping. Not knowing how else to help his brother, Dean hospitalized Sam. Sam is completely broken and exhausted, and actually comes this close to dying (he actually would have died if Castiel hadn’t taken on Sam’s hallucinations).

When Sam Confessed As He Tried To Finish The Trials

After Sam spent most of the season completing a series of trials that would allow the gates of hell to close forever, Dean stops Sam as he works to complete the final trial–curing a demon. Dean tells Sam that finishing The Trials will kill him, and closing the gates of hell isn’t worth Sam’s death. Of course, Sam doesn’t really care if he’s going to die, and goes on to confess to Dean that his biggest regret and biggest sin is letting Dean down so profoundly that Dean couldn’t trust him anymore. Sure, Sam messed up with the whole Ruby and “starting the apocalypse” thing, but his circumstances are extraordinary. He’s had to make crazy calls in unimaginable situations, and even though he’s messed up, Sam has done a lot of good. It was incredibly heartbreaking (for us and for Dean) to watch him think that dying was the only way to really make things right.

Of course these aren’t the only times Sam’s circumstances broke our hearts. There was that time we got a vision of the future and Sam/Lucifer killed Dean, the time Sam had to kill the first girl he had feelings for after Jess because she was a werewolf, that time Sam watched Dean die over and over in the Mystery Spot, or when he watched hell hounds drag Dean to hell. Sam has been through a lot, but he always makes it through somehow. So even though things might seem bleak for him now at the halfway point in season 11, there’s always hope for Sam Winchester, right?

What do you think was the most heartbreaking Sam moment on Supernatural? Let me know in the comments!